By Brigitta Poulos
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has recovered wages for over 600 Brisbane shopping mall food court workers – a stark reminder for Australian businesses of the importance of tightening up on HR compliance before harm is caused to your back pocket and reputation.
In mid-2022, the FWO investigated Brisbane-area shopping mall food court operators following reports and concerns relating to non-compliance with Australian HR laws. The result: three-quarters of businesses inspected were found to have breached employment laws, including failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the relevant modern award. This resulted in the businesses having to pay in excess of $400,000 in total to over 600 employees who were found to have been underpaid.
After anonymous tip-offs and in the knowledge the businesses engaged vulnerable workers including visa-holding workers, the Brisbane businesses were selected by the FWO for surprise inspections.
A total of 77 businesses across Brisbane, including the CBD, South Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, and Sunnybank were examined by Fair Work Inspectors – and a shocking 75 per cent of those were found to be in breach of various workplace laws.
- Of the 58 businesses found to be in breach, 53 had underpaid their workers and 26 had failed to meet pay slip and record-keeping requirements.
- The most common breaches found were:
- Failure to pay penalty rates or casual loading;
- Underpayment of minimum hourly rates of pay; and
- Breaches of pay slip obligations.
- $404,721 in wages was recovered for 623 workers, with Compliance Notices being issued to 49 businesses, along with 29 Infringement Notices issued for payslip and record-keeping breaches.
- The largest recovery from one business was $80,258 for 68 permanent full-time and part-time employees.
Non-compliant businesses were told that any future breaches may lead to higher-level enforcement action by the FWO. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker, the inspections were part of a national program targeting food precincts across the country which has recovered more than $2 million for workers.
“Uncovering high levels of non-compliance in Brisbane’s fast food, restaurant, and café sector, as the FWO has nationwide, is disappointing,” Parker has recently said in a media release.
“Employers can’t pick and choose which wage laws they follow and those doing the wrong thing are being found out.
“The Fair Work Ombudsman will continue to prioritise improving compliance in this sector, which we know employs many young workers and visa holders who can each be vulnerable.”
This comes as a timely warning to businesses that, whether it is intentional or accidental, failing to comply with workplace laws will result in serious financial and reputational consequences.
Want to pass a surprise inspection? Focus on these specific areas for improvement
No business is exempt from FWO inspection, and businesses outside Brisbane shouldn’t be complacent. The inspections follow a national program that has previously targeted food precincts in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Launceston, and the Gold Coast. The FWO targeted eateries in Adelaide’s Chinatown in December 2021 as well as Hobart, recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars. The big picture is fast food, restaurant, and café matters accounted for 36 per cent of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s new litigations in 2020-21.
Food court businesses have the same responsibilities and obligations as any other business. Give HR Assured a call today for advice about these aspects of employment law compliance:
- Payslips.
- Penalty rates.
- Casual loading.
- Wages and minimum wage.
- Leave entitlements.
- Employment records.
- Casual conversion.
- Employment contracts and other agreements.
- Hiring and onboarding.
- Probationary periods.
- Performance management.
- Termination.
- Redundancy.
If you’re not currently using HR Assured, start with a free HR Compliance Health check – after which we can begin immediately fixing your oversights to minimise the chances you’ll be pinged and stinged by the FWO.
During your HR Compliance Health Check, our experts will complete a thorough evaluation of your HR which will uncover any hidden risks before they become problems.
If you’re a client and you have a question about workplace compliance, contact HR Assured’s 24/7 Telephone Advisory Service.
If you’re not already an HR Assured customer and you’d like to try our award-winning Telephone Advisory Service, contact us for a FREE no-obligation consultation.
Brigitta Poulos is a Workplace Relations Consultant with HR Assured who loves helping clients and businesses achieve excellent workplace compliance with their obligations and duties, by way of interpretation of relevant employment legislation and awards. She particularly enjoys researching and explaining to clients new or ‘hot’ topics in the workplace relations and human resources field.